Sicilian Gene­alo­gy & Heraldry. The only book ever pub­lished about Sicilian family history
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records to consult. A definitive guide to Sicilian genealogy and a Sicilian identity. (300 pages on acid-free
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As we've mentioned in our introduction to family history, Sicily has the best
genealogical resource records in the world, often permitting lineages to circa 1500 even for many "ordinary" families having no links to the
aristocracy - something extremely rare elsewhere in Europe. This is a precious patrimony.
However, you'll have to know where to find the information you're looking for, and how to interpret it
once you do find it. Effective research requires a practical knowledge of social history, kinship, paleography, Latin, Italian (and Sicilian), onomatology
and other disciplines.
Since this isn't a family history site, our editors cannot respond to genealogical
research questions. At best, we can recommend a genealogist in Sicily. Best of Sicily doesn't intend this page to be a
lengthy genealogical guide, but we can offer you some practical (and realistic) suggestions. We'll also
offer some tips about where to find Sicilian genealogical records. Visit
the genetics page for information
on the relationship between that science and genealogy, and some notes on ethnology.
&nbsp We also have a page on Sicilian onomatology (surnames).
The use of genetics in genealogical research is described
below and on a special page, and our Jewish genealogy page offers some
practical advice for those having Jewish roots in Sicily.
A suggested research strategy follows, just before the records description. We strongly
recommend reading this entire page for a general overview before beginning your family history research project.
See our tour guide page for competent consultants who can accompany
you to an ancestral town to conduct genealogical research in vital statistics records.

In Sicily the existence of genealogical records and the use of a surname in a specific
family over many centuries often permits a lineage to be traced,
generation by generation, to circa 1500. Sicily's oldest baptismal and marriage
records date to around that time, with tax census records (rivelli and catasti) every few decades from the
same period. No other place on earth offers such extensive genealogical
information over so many centuries for so much of its population. Based
on the preservation of these records, at least 50% of Sicilians can
trace lineages well into the sixteenth century; in a parish archive one morning we traced the lineage
of an ordinary (non-aristocratic) family in the Nebrodi Mountains from
1850 directly to 1550, and later supplemented this with land census records.
(In most of Europe, by comparison, a proven, generation-by-generation pedigree to 1600
is exceptional.) Sicily also enjoys Europe's best-preserved feudal (land) records, permitting ready identification of the
successive owners of feudal estates from the late Middle Ages until the nineteenth
century. (Few regions of Europe enjoy anything comparable.)

Relatively little of this information - particularly for the centuries before 1800 - is available
online (Wikipedia presently has no entry for Sicilian genealogy) or in other secondary sources; scans and microfilms for pre-1800 may not be very legible.
The challenge is finding what interests you. A general strategy follows.

Firstly, you should speak Italian reasonably proficiently in order to communicate
with people who can help you, and you'll have to be able to read the information
they provide. The most useful records you can consult at provincial state
archives (usually open weekday mornings) are vital statistics acts of birth,
marriage and death between 1820 and 1860. Concentrate on acts of birth and
marriage rather than acts of death, which do not provide as much accurate
information which will advance a lineage. This presumes that you can read
nineteenth-century Italian script and are familiar enough with Italian social
history to understand the historical context of the information you are
reading. (Sicilian weddings, for example, entailed
certain traditional practices, and country life was
different from city life.) You'll have to fill out a few forms to consult
these records, and photocopying is not permitted, but you may order scans.

The vital statistics office of the town hall may be able to assist with
more recent records, but due to privacy laws usually will not allow you
to consult these directly, and in larger localities the personnel might
be too busy to help you very much. Parochial records, which are handwritten
in Latin, are useful for periods before 1820, but pastors are often reluctant
to grant direct access to these old registers, and in any event are not
obligated to assist you; many are downright uncooperative. While it is never
a guarantee of success, an offering (in advance) to the parish is presumed if you hope
to have access to the archive. It should be at least two hundred euros in banknotes,
sent via courier or registered post with a polite letter requesting access. Tax census records
(described in the chart below) can also be useful in some cases.

Until around 1880, some seventy percent of Italians (Sicilians as well
as Lombards, Tuscans and Piedmontese) were illiterate tenant farmers, farm
workers, and day workers. Most owned a house and perhaps a small parcel
of land. About twenty percent were skilled craftsmen, scholars, jurists
and other professionals. Except in the rare case of an aristocratic or professional
family, your Sicilian ancestry will reflect these demographic realities.

If you can't research yourself, you may be better off employing a professional genealogist
to research your family history, and costs are not usually prohibitive.
But don't expect free services. If your heritage
is worth anything to you, plan to spend at least €500.00 to discover it;
no professional genealogist in Sicily will accept
a project for much less. A professional will also be more objective, better able
to distinguish genealogical fact from family folklore, and is more likely
to be able to produce accurate results, even if months or years are
required. Beware of firms that sell coats of arms or attach
one to a genealogy they've researched for you. Several "distinguished"
research firms based in Florence are infamous for this practice. In Italy, only noble families (barons,
counts, et al.) are entitled to coats of arms; nobody can ethically claim
the coat of arms of a family with which he is unrelated just because he
coincidentally shares a surname with that family.

Some people would like to visit Sicily to meet distant cousins, but telephoning
people who happen to share your ancestor's surname in an attempt to foster ties with
distant relatives is never advised. They may not be related to you closely enough to
determine precise kinship, and they probably will not welcome your intrusion into their
privacy. It's best to approach these folks indirectly by sending
letters a few months before you go to Sicily, enclosing a clear, simple
family tree (like the pedigree shown here) indicating lineage at least
from the mid-1800s. For a fee, a competent genealogist can assist you in
constructing such a chart. This should be a lineal tree showing descent
from a single ancestor or couple in the direct male line, not a multilineal
pedigree like the ones favored by the Mormons and most American genealogists.
Telephone or email only those people who express a willingness to meet you.

You will find that Italian genealogical research is an eclectic subject. Don't believe
everything you read in web sites, books and magazine articles dedicated to Italian genealogy,
especially those published in English (even when these are published by genealogical organizations).
Being written by foreigners or amateurs who have little genuine knowledge of Italian history, most of
these works are full of historical misinformation and inaccuracies serious enough to impede your success
in identifying your ancestors. Understandably,
most of the folks who research their own family histories rely a great deal
on the stories they've heard from their grandparents, but the discovery
of genuine family history requires much more than this. (Some good books on Sicilian history are listed on our books page.) Best of Sicily is not a genealogical service. We do not undertake searches either for dead ancestors or living relatives. At best, we may be able to
recommend a genealogist, but we cannot respond to personal queries of
a genealogical nature or requests for free advice, such as "Can you
help me find my uncle in Agrigento?" or "Please send me the genealogy
of Giovanni De Carlo born in Castrogiovanni on May 4th 1878." The right person
for these tasks is a competent genealogical researcher

Genetic Research: Beyond actual
documentary records, currently available genetic (DNA) analysis
is useful in establishing kinship with cousins through the patrilineal line of ascent (i.e. your father's father's father et al.). As this
corresponds with surname inheritance, its value to genealogical research is obvious. Genetic analysis in female
matrilineal research (your mother's mother etc.) is less practical in genealogy. See our genetic genealogy page for more information.

Research Strategy: Here's the basic one for Sicily which gets results at least 90% of the time.

1) Unless you already have a precise knowledge of ancestral information
before 1860, consult the stato civile records of birth, marriage and death at
the municipio (town hall) in the locality where the ancestor lived. This is the only place to
consult records from 1860 to the present. Some town halls retain the records
from 1820 until 1860 (duplicates of those at the provincial state archives) as
well, but many do not. You may not be permitted to search the
records personally, on your own, but they do exist. Make an appointment for this
at least a month in advance of your arrival.

2) To extend the line backward in time, consult the stato civile records at
the provincial state archive for periods from 1820 until 1860. The processetti
matrimoniali (marriage document attachments) may also be available, depending on province.

3) Assuming you have established the lineage to circa 1790 with civil
records, the next step is the parochial archive. Be warned that access may require prior approval
from the bishop. Catholic parishes are not obligated to assist you, and with the
dearth of pastors and personnel it is quite possible you will be denied access.
Whereas the LDS Church has microfilmed many civil records, that is not usually
the case for church records. As we mentioned, you should make a substantial
offering, in advance, if you hope to consult these records, and episcopal
permission may be necessary nevertheless. Remember that some localities have more than
one historical parish, and therefore more than one archive to consult. This is obviously true in larger
cities but even occurs in some towns. In that event, you may end up alternating research between parishes.

4) As supplementary records, you may wish to consult the rivelli, the Sicilian version of the catasti. These are
available at the Palermo state archive. Microfilms of these documents are not
always legible, especially for those prior to the 18th century. Some are
conserved from circa 1500. The most useful riveli are those up to and including the one for 1748;
those for the 19th century (beginning in 1811) list property and sometimes the paternity of each
taxpayer but not the names of his wife and children. Land plots listed in the riveli may
be identified by their locations in manors (or fiefs); this is where feudal and nobiliary records
come into play even for families which aren't descended from the aristocracy. Some knowledge of feudalism may be helpful here.

5) The significance of these records is explained in the following chart (links open to examples)
and in our introductory article. Local histories have been published
for many towns, and these are sometimes useful as they may provide maps and might even mention
the family you are researching.

Professional Genealogal Research Assistance: We're often asked to recommend a genealogist and we can sometimes do so if you email us indicating the nature and locality of the research. See our tour guide page or the ads on this one for qualified consultants who can accompany you to an
ancestral town to conduct basic research in 19th-century records.

The Records: now that you have at least a suggested research strategy, the following chart describes important
genealogical records sources in Sicily. The numbers in the column headed by an asterisk (*) indicate the relative
level of expertise required to effectively use these records, level 5 reflecting the highest degree of training. Several
descriptions link to images of the documents mentioned, which will open in a pop-up window
(please activate this feature in your browser's preferences) or - if you're using a tablet - a new tab. (Please activate your browser's JAVA Script to
open these links and view these documents.)

Record

Description

Source

*

Consultation, Observations

Vital Statistic Acts1860-present

Acts of birth, marriage, death, some adoptions.

Stato Civile office of the Municipio (city hall).

1-2

Public access usually restricted to ensure privacy, especially for acts after 1910. Better to
request certificate for act that interests you. By
post, send request (in Italian) enclosing €10.00 per certificate, asking for
estratto (extract) if you want parentage indicated.

Tribunale del Real Patrimonio and Deputazione del Regno, retained at Archive of State of Palermo.

4-5

Similar to catasti of other regions, these registers date from circa 1500 for some localities. Recorded in old script in Italian, Sicilian, some Latin. List residents, with ages for males, taxable assets. Paleography skills
necessary for older acts (before circa 1670).

Atti Notarili1500-1800

Notarial Acts

Provincial Archive of State.

5

Useful for searching dowries and land transfers, some wills. Catalogued by name of notary and unindexed. Page by page consultation is time consuming,
often unproductive.